Face in the Crowd

Alex Prager, Face in the Crowd, 2013, three-channel video installation, color, sound; 11:52 minutes, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2016.29.1, © 2013, Alex Prager

Artwork Details

Title: Face in the Crowd
Artist: Alex Prager
Sound: Ali Helnwein
Date: 2013
Location: Not on view
Copyright: © 2013, Alex Prager
Credit Line: Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums: video
Mediums Description: three-channel video installation, color, sound; 11:52 minutes
Classifications: Media Arts
Subjects: Figure group
Object Number: 2016.29.1
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2016.29.1

Artwork Description

Alex Prager draws inspiration from the rich color photography of William Eggleston and the Southern California moviemaking industry. Her studio mirrors that of large-scale film productions, resulting in the works that project a distinctive Hollywood aesthetic. Littered with parodied clichés of popular cinema and renderings of narrative tension, anxiety, and suspense, Face in the Crowd traces a spectrum of concerns: a fear of crowds and the desire to stand out among them; voyeurism and exhibitionism; the spectator's gaze; and the inability to live up to expectations. This work showcases the anxiety of being swept up by the masses while trying to create and maintain a sense of self--conditions long present in the physical world--amplified in the virtual spaces we inhabit today.